Velvet fabric knitting method

ABSTRACT

A velvet fabric knitting method is applied by performing a shearing process different from the terry-cloth construction on two different yarns in a double plated circular knitting machine and by means of the invention, light effects and episodic patterning are achieved without applying any printing process and/or using jacquard circular knitting machines. The progress is achieved by producing ring-spun, open-end, air-jet, friction yarn from different material mixtures and using them as pile yarn in the production of a velvet fabric.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO THE RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the national phase entry of InternationalApplication No. PCT/TR2017/050705, filed on Dec. 27, 2017, which isbased upon and claims priority to Turkish Patent Application No.2017/19729, filed on Dec. 6, 2017, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method of producing (pile) velveteen(plush) knitted fabric which is produced in circular knitting machinesby terry-cloth fabric technique and which is then processed to appearlike velvet.

BACKGROUND

A fabric is a covering surface constructed by linking yarns via variousmethods. It is obtained from yarns made of natural textile fibers suchas cotton, wool, silk, linen, etc. and synthetic, regenerated textilefibers or a mixture thereof. Fabrics are constructed by passing yarnswhich are perpendicular and parallel to each other from under and aboveeach other.

Nowadays, in the circular knitting machines, the needles are arrangednext to each other into the needle grooves provided in the circular(tubular) needle plates. They are machines which carry out knitting bymoving the needles that move in the grooves during the circular movementof the needle plate independently with the help of the lockingmechanisms that are immobile on the needle plate and grooves and thatgive movement to the needles and by fixed yarn lay-in suitable thereto.The knitting operation is carried out by the needles that are arrangedat certain intervals around the needle plate making circular movementsall together while receiving suitable movement from the fixed lockingsystems and forming loops by pulling the yarns laid on them.

One of the types of fabric produced is the pile plush which is producedby using the terry-cloth fabric production technique in circularknitting machines and then sheared to have a smooth surface with finepiles giving a velvet appearance.

In the state of the art applications, the light effects and surfacepatterns are obtained in some nylon velvet fabrics, although rare;however they are provided to some extent with a synthetic material(nylon, etc.). Artificial textile fibers are required to achieve such aneffect. Processes of patterning and creating effects in velvet fabricscannot be achieved by using single yarn in plain circular knittingmachines.

However in the state of the art applications, jacquard terry-clothmachines are used to produce patterns on velvet fabric and the colorsobtained in this production method cannot reflect light from differentangles.

SUMMARY

The object of the present invention is to provide a method of producingvelvet fabric having a mixture of materials and reflection effect byperforming a different shearing method on the roving (roving ofvelvet/terry-cloth fabric instead of terry-cloth) without making changesin the construction of the fabric. In order to do this, two differentyarns are required to be knitted in terry-cloth construction in a doubleplated circular knitting machine. Following a terry-cloth knittingprocess carried out by different yarns, the surface is converted tovelvet fabric by shearing process. By means of the present invention,light effects and episodic patterning are achieved without applying anyprinting process and/or using jacquard circular knitting machines. Thesaid progress is achieved by producing ring-spun yarn from differentmaterial mixtures and using them as pile yarn in production of velvetfabric.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Velvet fabric knitting production method developed to fulfill theobjective of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanyingFIGURE, in which;

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the velvet fabric knitting method.

The steps in the figures are given reference numbers as follows:

-   100. Velvet fabric knitting method-   101. Mixing the (commercially available) fibers comprising neps used    in pile yarn with a textile fiber comprised of natural, synthetic,    regenerated fibers or a mixture thereof and making them into slivers    upon processing them in the carding machine,-   102. Eliminating roughness of the slivers coming from the carding    machine and splicing the sliver cotton pieces with the sliver neps    and activating the draw frame for mixing them into the main    material,-   103. Activating the roving frame for thinning the draw frame sliver    cotton and nep mixture coming from the draw frame and subjecting it    to false twist process,-   104. Activating the ring machine for obtaining yarn by thinning the    cords coming from the cotton and nep mixture from the roving machine    via drawing and winding the yarn onto the cops,-   105. Knitting the greige fabric by the needles which are turning    upon upwards-downwards movement of the knitting needles provided in    the double plated circular knitting machine,-   106. Knitting the pile yarn and the ground yarn by passing them    through the needles in different plates,-   107. Placing the pile yarn on the fabric backcloth for shearing and    then shearing thereof,-   108. Activating the fixing machine for fixing the produced yarn and    stretching the terry cloth fabric under hot air to prevent    electrostatic generation,-   109. Dyeing the terry-cloth fabric,-   110. Activating the centrifugal drying machine for drying the    terry-cloth fabric by contacting heated air,-   111. Rotating the dyed fabric at least 4550 revolutions in order to    prevent sinking of the nep effects in the terry-cloth tolon machine,-   112. Shearing the pile yarns of the terry-cloth fabric in order to    turn it to a velvet fabric by making the closed loops open-end from    a blade distance of at least 1.8 mm,-   113. Passing the dyed and sheared velvet fabric through the stenter    for drying thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the velvet fabric knitting method (100) of the present invention, theneppy sliver fibers (fiber bundles which may include fibers of differentthicknesses and lengths and which can create a 3 dimensional effect onthe main fiber sliver or yarn to which they are incorporated as theystand together) used in pile yarn are mixed with staple fibers and madeit into slivers upon being processed in the carding machine (101), andthe carding machine is the machine wherein the cotton fiber is made intothick slivers upon being passed through rotary cylinders with needles.

The neppy fibers used in pile yarn are mixed with textile fiberscomprised of natural, synthetic, regenerated fibers such as cotton,wool, silk, linen, etc. or a mixture thereof and they are made intoslivers by being processed in the carding machine.

In order to obtain the yarn with nep effects used in pile yarn, theneppy fibers are mixed with the main fiber and made into slivers bybeing processed in the carding machine and the nep carding slivers ofthe yarn with nep effects with the staple fibers in the draw frame.

The draw frame is used for eliminating roughness of the slivers comingfrom the carding machine and splicing the sliver cotton pieces leavingthe carding machine transversely with the sliver neps and mixing theminto the main material (102). The neps are mixed into the main materialas injection or double material feed during the yarn process, nepcarding process, draw frame process or yarn spinning process.

The roving frame is activated for thinning the draw frame sliver cottonand nep mixture coming from the draw frame and subjecting it to twistingprocess (103). After the draw frame process, the cotton and nep mixtureis given its thinnest sliver form in the roving machine. These thinslivers are spun in the ring machine. The said ring machine is activatedto obtain yarn by thinning the cords coming from the cotton and nepmixture from the roving machine via drawing and to wind the yarn ontothe cops (104). Thus the main material is subjected to carding processand the process of mixing with the neppy sliver is performed in the drawframe. The mixing is enabled during the drawing process.

The draw frame is activated in order to obtain a homogenous sliver bysplicing the yarn slivers transversely by means of doubling for cleaningthe flies formed during the drawing process.

The greige (circular terry-cloth knitted) fabric, which is comprised ofpile yarn and ground yarn, is knitted by the needles which are turningupon upwards-downwards movement of the knitting needles provided in thedouble plated circular knitting machine.

The pile yarn and the ground yarn are knitted by being passed throughthe needles in different plates (106). The filament yarn or staple yarn,which ensures strength of the fabric backcloth, is used. (filament yarn;continuous yarns comprised of natural, synthetic, regenerated yarns ormixtures thereof or ring yarns comprised of staple fibers or open-endyarns comprised of staple fibers or air-jet yarns comprised of staplefibers).

The greige fabric is processed in the AIRO machine, wherein shearing(for opening the closed ends of the pile yarns), pre-fixation, exhaustdyeing, centrifuge (drying), stentering and quality control processesare performed on the greige fabric.

In the shearing process, the pile yarn is placed on the fabric backclothfor shearing and then it is sheared (107). During velvet fabricproduction, the pile yarn and ground yarn are knitted by beingseparately passed through the needles in two different plates. Thefabric backcloth, which is also known as rear side of the fabric, is thenapless flat surface of the velvet fabric generally comprised offilament yarns (polyester and nylon are often selected for providingstrength).

The fixing machine is activated for fixing the produced yarn andstretching the terry-cloth fabric under hot air to prevent electrostaticgeneration (108). The terry-cloth fabric is dyed (109) and then thecentrifugal drying machine is activated for drying the terry-clothfabric by contacting heated air (110).

After the greige fabric is produced in the double plated circularknitting machine, the finishing process begins in terry-cloth fabricconstruction. The fabric rotates together with warm air in the tolonmachine by a specific number of revolutions and the dyed fabric isrotated at least 4550 revolutions in order to prevent sinking of the nepeffects in the terry-cloth tolon machine (111). The purpose of theincrease in the number of revolutions in the tolon machine is to ensurethat the neps in the pile yarn remain more upright and brisk.

2^(nd) shearing is performed on the pile yarns of the terry-cloth fabricin order to turn it to a velvet fabric by making the closed loopsopen-end from a blade distance of at least 1.8 mm (112). The velvetcircular knitted fabric is a version of terry-cloth circular knittedfabric before the shearing process.

After the shearing process, the closed loops of the pile yarns areopened and made open-end. The purpose of increasing the distance is toprevent the blades from shearing too deep on the fabric surface.

Performing shearing by a certain distance difference prevents the nepeffects in the fabric from sinking in the tolon machine.

The dyed and sheared velvet fabric is passed through the stenter forbeing dried (113). The constructed velvet fabric is finally subjected tovarious quality control processes (114).

The fabric weight (g/m²) varies according to area of use. The groundyarn and pile yarn numbers vary depending on the weight of the fabric.

By means of this invention, velvet fabric with different materialmixture and reflection pattern effect is obtained without making anychanges in the fabric construction. A more bulky and softer touch isprovided by means of the different material mixtures and compositionsused in the invention.

In one embodiment of the invention, fiber mixtures comprising natural,synthetic or regenerated fibers such as viscose, cotton, polyester,nylon, linen, wool fibers or mixtures thereof are used.

In one embodiment of the invention, glossy fiber which provides a softtouch is used.

In one embodiment of the invention, the filament yarn is produced ofsynthetic materials enabling high strength such as polyester, nylon,etc.

In one embodiment of the invention, many needles such as single buttneedle, 4 butt needle are used.

In one embodiment of the invention, when carding process of textilefibers comprised of natural, synthetic, regenerated fibers such ascotton, silk, linen, etc. or mixtures thereof is performed in thecarding machine at a low drum rpm (preferably less than 300 rpm) byincreasing the distance between the revolving flat and the drum (thestarting point is more than 35 mm), similar ones of the sliver nepeffects are obtained. The neppy slivers obtained with this method may ormay not be mixed with different textile fibers in the draw frame. Thus,decision of making the mixture depends on the desired number of neps ina unit area in the final fabric.

What is claimed is:
 1. A velvet fabric knitting method comprising thesteps of mixing a plurality of fibers comprising neps used in a pileyarn with a textile fiber comprised of natural, synthetic, regeneratedfibers or a mixture of the natural, synthetic and regenerated fibers andmaking the plurality of fibers and the textile fiber into a plurality ofslivers upon processing the plurality of fibers and the textile fibersin a carding machine; activating a draw frame for eliminating roughnessof the plurality of slivers coming from the carding machine and splicinga plurality of sliver cotton pieces with a plurality of sliver neps andmixing the plurality of sliver neps into a main material; activating aroving frame for thinning a draw frame sliver cotton and a nep mixturecoming from the draw frame and subjecting the draw frame sliver cottonand the nep mixture to a twisting process to obtain a plurality ofcords; activating a ring machine for obtaining a yarn by thinning theplurality of cords coming from a main fiber and a nep mixture from aroving machine via drawing and winding the yarn onto a plurality ofcops; knitting a greige fabric by a plurality of needles, wherein thegreige fabric is turning upon upwards-downwards movement of theplurality of needles provided in a double cylinder circular knittingmachine; knitting the pile yarn and a ground yarn by passing the pileyarn and the ground yarn through the plurality of needles in a pluralityof different cylinders; placing the pile yarn on a fabric backcloth forshearing and then shearing thereof the pile yarn; activating a fixingmachine for fixing a produced yarn and for stretching a pile fabricunder hot air to prevent an electrostatic generation; and dyeing thepile fabric, wherein dyeing the pile fabric comprises the steps of:activating a centrifugal drying machine for drying the pile fabric bycontacting a heated air; rotating a dyed fabric at least 4550revolutions per minute in order to prevent sinking of a plurality of nepeffects in the centrifugal drying machine; shearing the pile yarn of thepile fabric in order to turn the pile fabric into a velvet fabric bymaking a plurality of closed loops open-ends from a blade distance of atleast 1.8 mm; and passing a dyed and sheared velvet fabric through astenter for drying the dyed and sheared velvet fabric thereof.
 2. Thevelvet fabric knitting method according to claim 1, comprising theplurality of textile fibers are selected from the group of viscose,cotton, polyester, nylon, linen, wool, silk fibers or fiber mixturescomprised of mixtures natural, synthetic and regenerated fibers. 3.(canceled)
 4. (canceled)
 5. The velvet fabric knitting method (100)according to claim 1, comprising the step of obtaining a plurality ofsliver nep effects when carding process of the plurality of textilefibers are selected from the group of cotton, silk, or linen or mixturesnatural, synthetic and regenerated fibers is performed in the cardingmachine at a drum speed of less than 300 rpm and a distance between arevolving flat and a cylinder of the carding machine is more than 35 mm.